PHS holds first prom, Maypole dress exchange

Maypole has been a proud tradition at Portales High School for 79 years. But what to do with those pastel-colored, “Gone With the Wind” style dresses which just hang in the closet after the winding?

And what to do with those glitzy prom dresses that also only get worn for one big night?

The Portales High School Student Council sponsored its first Prom and Maypole Dress Exchange at the PHS Cafeteria on Wednesday night. Although turnout was light, Vicki Huber, the PHS student body president, hopes the dress exchange will become an annual tradition.

Organizers came up with the idea as a way to help some girls save money by not having to buy something brand new or have it tailor-made. The idea was also to give dress owners a chance to pass on their gowns to someone else, either for free, thus freeing up space in their closet, or by selling it.

“Some people are just giving away their dresses for free and then we have one, like this Maypole dress,” Huber pointed to a peach colored gown, “Which is for $200. I bet they bought it for at least $350,” she quickly pointed out.

PHS senior, Samantha Garcia, and her mom, Amy, came to the dress exchange, specifically looking for a mint-colored Maypole dress for Samantha. While Samantha didn’t find what she wanted in her size or color, her mom said, “All of us have dresses that we have around and have nothing to do with them. I think if this becomes a tradition more people will come. I think it will be a beneficial thing for the community because people will not have to spend as much money.”

Amy said the dress exchange was also a good idea because families have gotten smaller and so some girls do not have siblings or older relatives to get hand-me-downs from.

Huber said that some girls will also bring their dresses to Maypole practice to try and exchange or sell them there. She said some dress exchanges also go on during the Maypole parent meeting. The parent meeting was held this past Monday night.